Canada concerned about protectionism if NAFTA dies

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada voiced concern on Wednesday about
"protectionist outbursts" from the United States if that
country were to pull out of the NAFTA trade agreement as Barack
Obama and Hillary Clinton are threatening.

The two Democratic presidential candidates said in a debate
on Tuesday that they would opt out of NAFTA, the North American
Free Trade Agreement, unless certain environmental and labor
standards were renegotiated.

"I've been very concerned for a couple of years now. The
rhetoric of protectionism has been creeping, it's been getting
more strident, it's permeating Congress, protectionist groups
are flexing their muscle," Canadian International Trade
Minister David Emerson told a crush of reporters.

"And it's not just the heat of the election campaign that's
causing concern."

Emerson said that if the United States left NAFTA, which
also includes Mexico, he did not envisage it suddenly erecting
large tariff barriers.

But he did see the possibility of long-standing disputes
erupting again and not being easily settled.

"The biggest risk is that there will be periodic outbursts
of protectionist sentiment. It may be softwood lumber one day,
it may be beef another day. The real risk is that you lose the
ability to resolve these disputes in a relatively neutral and
objective way," he said.

Canada has run substantial trade surpluses with the United
States under NAFTA -- for 2007 it was C$85.2 billion ($86.9
billion at current exchange rates) -- but Emerson dismissed
this as "simply an accounting outcome."
Continued...